Alternative Epistemologies as Distinguishing Features of Right-Wing and Left-Wing Media in the United States

Abstract

This study builds on efforts to understand what alternative media are becoming by examining differences in epistemology among them and as compared with mainstream media. We find that alternative media present fewer sources on average and rely more often on unattributed assertions. The source count is particularly low in right-wing alternative media. Furthermore, alternative media outlets are more distant from the sources they do provide than mainstream media are. Thus, alternative media present both less evidence and less proximate evidence in their news texts, offering audiences a shaky epistemological foundation.